What do dog dewclaws do? What are dog dewclaws for, anyway?Ī dog’s front dewclaw has several functions, minor though they may be, including balance and stability when dogs are in movement over uneven terrain or making landfall after swimming. You may notice when walking or playing with your dog that the front paw’s dewclaws don’t actually touch the earth when he walks, so what purpose does the dewclaw serve? This is why they’re often referred to as a dog’s thumbs. Every domestic dog also has a fifth digit on the front paws, occupying the same general position as the thumb on the human hand. Dog facts: What are dog dewclaws? Up close and personal with dog dewclaws.Įvery domestic dog paw has four primary toes. Dog dewclaws, historically spelled “dew claws” or “dew-claws,” are largely atavistic appendages, which dogs retain to this day. As it turns out, dogs do have thumbs, but they, too, have been relegated to the bargain bin of utility. The former illustrates that in an older configuration, people used to have tails, and the latter once served a digestive function. Think of your coccyx, or tailbone, or perhaps your appendix. Some of these bits and bobs get caught in limbo as vestigial structures - they’re still there, but they no longer serve a purpose. She’s been given pain relief and antibiotic cover to make sure that she stays comfortable and the wound stays clean, but I’m not expecting complications.Do dogs have thumbs? In the ongoing, slow-burning processes of evolution, parts of bodies adapt, change, or get left behind. She must have wondered what on earth had happened. By the time Lulu came around from the sedation, the painful nail had been removed, and a bright blue bandage was on her leg in its place. The bloody base of the dew claw was now exposed in the short term, it needed to be protected, so I applied a light bandage. I then instilled local anaesthetic around the nail base, and I was able to quickly and smoothly remove the entire nail. After the injection, she was soon sleeping peacefully in Ashling’s arms. Removal of a nail is a painful procedure, so I had to give Lulu deep sedation before I could do anything. Understandably, it was very sore, and there was only one possible cure: the entire nail needed to be removed to allow a new healthy nail to grow in its place. The nail had been half torn off, so it was now the equivalent of a human fingernail which had been split and half pulled out of its base. The small nail must have caught in something as she rushed past perhaps she’d bashed it against a rock, or snagged it in vegetation. Many dogs need regular clipping of their dew claws to prevent this from happening.Įven when it’s clipped short, the dewclaw can still cause problems, like Lulu’s accident.
Torn dew claw dog skin#
The nail doesn’t wear on the ground, so it often becomes overgrown, curling back into the dog’s skin and causing discomfort. For most pets, however, it’s just a nuisance. It probably helps to grip when dogs run rapidly around corners, and perhaps when they’re digging. The dew claw doesn’t serve much of a function in the modern dog.
Torn dew claw dog full#
Instead, it’s just a remnant of a full scale toe, with a small nub of fleshy tissue covered by skin.
The dew claw isn’t a full digit, like a human thumb. This is the canine equivalent of the human thumb. When I saw Lulu, I was able to pinpoint the cause of her problem at once: she had injured her dew claw. She could see some blood on the inside of the lower leg, so she knew it was time to go to the vet. When Lulu came back this time, she was still carrying her paw, so Ashling had a closer look to see what was going on. At first Ashling thought that she might have just banged it, so she threw the ball another time. The ball had gone into dense bushes, and when Lulu emerged, carrying the ball in her mouth, she was carrying her right paw in the air, as if she’d hurt it. One week, Ashling threw the tennis ball down to the end of the garden in the normal way, and Lulu bolted after it, running as fast as her little legs would carry her. It’s a simple effective way of burning up the excess energy that all terriers possess. Lulu happily continues to play this game for hours on end.
There’s nothing complicated about it: Ashling throws the ball, Lulu chases it, brings it back, and Ashling throws it again. Lulu has a favourite game: she loves chasing her tennis ball in the back garden.
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